On the day that I was born.....
I came into this world under violent & traumatic circumstances. I was born on Saturday December 6th, 1986. My due date wasn't for another 4 weeks, but something bad happened....
My dad hadn't come home the night before. There my mom was, sitting at home with a 4 year old, a 1 year old & she was 8 months pregnant, waiting for my dad. My mom was not the most patient person in the world, so she went looking for him on that Saturday. When she found him, he was at a friends house. He was drunk & she was furious.
She told him to come outside. If you knew my dad, you knew that he was a very prideful man. Nobody told him anything. So naturally, he was embarrassed by his pregnant wife, barging in there & trying to put him in his place. My dad used to say that my mom didn't know when to shut up.
They went outside & my mom started going off on him. She slapped him. He hit her. I'm not sure if it was a slap or a punch, but it was hard enough to knock her down. Once she was down, he kicked her. I don't know if it was once or more than once, but it was in the stomach. He kicked me.
His friends came out to stop him. They reminded him about the baby. My mom got up to leave. She drove home. She had to crawl up the stairs to get to the phone. She called my grandpa, her dad, to take her to the hospital.
When she got there, she was in bad shape. We both were. She was bleeding internally. I was drowning in my mothers blood. She had an emergency cesarean & we both had blood transfusions among other things. We both almost died that day. I was taken to a children's hospital in Chicago. Since my mom was in such bad shape, they wouldn't give her any information about me. They showed her a picture of me, with IV's in my head.
She didn't get to see me until she got out of the hospital & went up to the hospital where I was, 2 weeks later. I can't imagine what kind of torture that must have been like for her... Almost losing your baby, then being separated from her for weeks...
We were just so fortunate that we survived that day.
Domestic violence has been a truth in my life since the day that I was born. Do I hate my dad for what he did to us? No, I really don't. I have fond memories of him, which I will share later. When I heard this story of my birth, I lost a lot of respect for my dad though. I also gained an understanding, about what domestic violence is, & who exactly it effects. It effects everyone in the family. Not just the one being hit, but those witnessing it. It's hurting them & it's damaging them. If you know someone who is being abused, or you suspect that they are. Reach out to them. Let them know that you care.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.
I came into this world under violent & traumatic circumstances. I was born on Saturday December 6th, 1986. My due date wasn't for another 4 weeks, but something bad happened....
My dad hadn't come home the night before. There my mom was, sitting at home with a 4 year old, a 1 year old & she was 8 months pregnant, waiting for my dad. My mom was not the most patient person in the world, so she went looking for him on that Saturday. When she found him, he was at a friends house. He was drunk & she was furious.
She told him to come outside. If you knew my dad, you knew that he was a very prideful man. Nobody told him anything. So naturally, he was embarrassed by his pregnant wife, barging in there & trying to put him in his place. My dad used to say that my mom didn't know when to shut up.
They went outside & my mom started going off on him. She slapped him. He hit her. I'm not sure if it was a slap or a punch, but it was hard enough to knock her down. Once she was down, he kicked her. I don't know if it was once or more than once, but it was in the stomach. He kicked me.
His friends came out to stop him. They reminded him about the baby. My mom got up to leave. She drove home. She had to crawl up the stairs to get to the phone. She called my grandpa, her dad, to take her to the hospital.
When she got there, she was in bad shape. We both were. She was bleeding internally. I was drowning in my mothers blood. She had an emergency cesarean & we both had blood transfusions among other things. We both almost died that day. I was taken to a children's hospital in Chicago. Since my mom was in such bad shape, they wouldn't give her any information about me. They showed her a picture of me, with IV's in my head.
She didn't get to see me until she got out of the hospital & went up to the hospital where I was, 2 weeks later. I can't imagine what kind of torture that must have been like for her... Almost losing your baby, then being separated from her for weeks...
We were just so fortunate that we survived that day.
Domestic violence has been a truth in my life since the day that I was born. Do I hate my dad for what he did to us? No, I really don't. I have fond memories of him, which I will share later. When I heard this story of my birth, I lost a lot of respect for my dad though. I also gained an understanding, about what domestic violence is, & who exactly it effects. It effects everyone in the family. Not just the one being hit, but those witnessing it. It's hurting them & it's damaging them. If you know someone who is being abused, or you suspect that they are. Reach out to them. Let them know that you care.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.